Before & After (so far)

Well, I thought I'd write a little bit about my weight loss journey thus far. I even have a before & after picture, well current picture, I hope to have an even better after picture in the next couple of months. :)

I've been working out and eating better for almost 2 months now. My current work-out schedule consists of getting up EARLY in the morning to get 40-50 minutes of cardio/toning in via work-out videos (turbo jam & zumba). I then meet my momma and we go out for a 2 mile walk. We sometimes are able to get in another 2 miles in the evening with Chad and the kiddos. There is also random dancing in the house throughout the day. ;)

As of "eating better", I've been following weight watchers (kinda-sorta) and mostly just trying to make better choices: portion control, more water, more fruit & veggies (something I still really need to work on).

So far, I've lost about 12-15 pounds or so. I can't remember for sure what my weight was before I initially began, but I know it was much higher than I wanted it to be. ;) I've noticed that logging my food is really helpful for me and I've also been tracking pounds/inches lost every 10 days which is also really helpful because it shows that there is PROGRESS! :)

I've noticed that my energy level is higher and I feel so much better. I don't want to just be a lump on the couch, I want to be up and active and maybe, just maybe, our house is even a little cleaner than it has been in the past, maybe. ;) I'm currently wanting to do a warrior dash or something similar and I'm hoping to start incorporating running into my work-outs more. I've always hated running and I'd really like for that to chance.

Here is the photo... I'm really embarassed of the before picture. I know it's not a great comparison because I'm a little more turned in the before but I think the difference is still a little noticeable. I hope to have another one of these posts in a couple months or so with more pounds lost and an even better after photo.

Before picture was taken June 3rd, After picture was taken July 25th.

Lainee is 2!

Wow! Our Lainee bug is 2 and I can't even believe it. I think her birthday being so close to the 4th of July was meant to be because she is a FIRECRACKER! :) She is so many things and only on her terms, she is feisty, sweet, ornery, silly, funny, beautiful, happy, loveable, etc... the list could go on and on.

Right now, Lainee is learning to say more words. Developmentally, she is a little behind what KJ was at this point. She's has been a quicker developer physically while he was quicker cognitively. Physically, she's our little monkey. :) Like I said, she is learning to say a lot more words and we're trying to teach her to count and some ABC's. I'm really hoping to start doing pre-school again. She really enjoys jumping on the trampoline, playing with her big brother and loving on her little sister. She loves her sibs and they love her, too! Potty training is slowly in the works, not pushing it too hard just yet. And, one of my favorite things right now... Lately, while changing her and getting her dressed, she wraps her arms around my neck and says "Yuv you." Yeah, my heart melts every time. ;)

She is such a joy and I can't believe I've been blessed with such a special girl. Love her to pieces.






Here are some pictures from her birthday parties:

Sawyer's Birth Story (Only about 4 months later...)

I was scheduled to be induced with Sawyer on Friday night (March 11th). I figured I'd go in, they'd start up the pitocin and she'd arrive before midnight. Instead, my doctor decided to try cervadil which ended up being a much slower, but possibly easier (delivery-wise) process. I'm going to do a time-line similar to how I did with Lainee's birth. Since I'm such a terrible writer, it's a little easier to do it that way.

5:00-5:30PM: Arrival/Check-in

7:30- Doctor arrives, cervadil time.

7:30-1:30AM: Nothing was really happening which resulted in me being annoyed and upset that they just didn't do the pitocin so that things would have been moving. They figured I could rest but that is darn near impossible when you are tied up to machines/having to pee every 5 minutes and just extremely UNCOMFORTABLE! My mom also went home around 12:30 because I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen and I wanted to rest (they wouldn't let her in the room with us due to fire hazards :p).

1:30AM: Lo and behold, sending my mom home got the contractions started. ;) About an hour after she left, I definitely started feeling actul contractions kicked in and once they started, they got close and hard pretty quick. I would notice, as I paced the hallway, I would get a contraction as I reached the end of the hall each time. That told me they were pretty close and regular. So, I'd pace the hallway for a while, go back and lay down moaning (trying not to wake Chad but also secretly hoping that he would wake so I'd have company). haha BTW, the kiddos were home with Aunt Keesha during all of this.

3:30-4:00AM: They moved me to a L&D room, we called mom and they prepped me for an epidural. Like I said, once the contractions really got going- I was in PAIN and I always tell myself I'll try to go without an epi, but an all honesty- it feels SO good once that drug travels through my body that I really don't feel all of that guilty getting one. It makes things so much more enjoyable, IMO. Oh, and mom arrived right around the time I got the epidural.

4:00-9:00AM: I was able to rest once I got the epidural, so I tried to do a lot of that while things progressed. All of my nurses were great but that one I got Saturday morning was WONDERFUL! One of the sweetest people I had ever met and I was so thankful that she was there. Did I mention that she stayed beyond her shift to be there while I delivered? She's a traveling nurses so she works at various hospitals around the area- just such a wonderfully sweet lady.

By 9 or 9:30 or so, I was getting pretty close and I think it was around this time that Dr. Kimura came and broke my water- which always really gets things going for me. I want to say I was around a 6 or 7 at this point, but I really don't remember. Like I said, with the cervadil everything progressed much slower than they had in my previous labors.

10AMish: I was getting pretty close but they decided to continue to Sawyer come down on her own. They also thought she was face up because I was having back-to-back/double contractions (I think there may have been another name for it but I don't remember.) Also may have been a contributor to the slow progression. Because of Sawyer's position, we kept losing her heart rate on the monitor so there was a lot of twisting and turning on my part to try to keep her up on the screen.

11AM: Decided it was time to start pushing. I swear there were about 3 extra nurses in there in usual. I just remember laying there seeing a lot of people in the room and wondering why that was. ha Mom & Chad were still there with me and I couldn't have done it without them. I LOVE having mom & ovbiously Chad with me, they've been such a blessing in all three labors. Anyways, I think I pushed once and Sawyer arrived at 11:08 AM on March 12th. :) 7.8 pounds, 19.5 inches. Remember how I said the cervadil may have helped delivery-wise? Well, I think letting everything progess on its own and allowing Sawyer to come down, made it so much easier. I was shocked when she arrived after just one push, I was expecting A LOT more work. ;)

Anyways, that is a poorly written version of Sawyer's birth. I just realized that I'm not sure if I ever wrote KJ's down. I may have to do that before mommy brain takes over completely and I lost my memory altogether. ;) The Lord has sure blessed us with three beautiful, happy, healthy children and I am SO, SO thankful. :)

The one regret I have is that we never got any really good shots from right after Sawyer was born. :( We got plenty with our phones but I wish we would have snapped more with the regular camera like we did with the others. Here are a few pictures from L&D/the hospital.

Hey Spring, Sprung Already!

Wow! Time has flown by since our little Sawyer has arrived. She joined us on March 12th and she is absolutely AMAZING! God has truly blessed us and I'm so, so thankful. I'm going to have to cut this short as I have some other things that need to get done, but I hope to get the birth story up sometime this weekend. :) For now, I'll post a few photos of the kiddos and Sawyer's birth announcement.

Hangin' In There

Well, the kids are are hanging out with Nana for a while and I'm not quite ready to start cleaning, so... I thought I'd update the blog.

Things are going pretty well around the ol' Greenfield home. I've started doing pre-school with the kiddos. We try to do something with letters and/or numbers every day and also colors and/or shapes. We have a couple workbooks that KJ really enjoys doing pages out of and Lainee is slowly learning to count and recognize new objects and say more words. It's amazing to watch your children learn something new and see their excitment over it.

Chad is keeping busy at work, as usual. He also has a new project, well... an old "new" project. ha We had terrible wind the other day and it blew our playstructure into our fence, causing damage to both. Luckily, both are easy fixable and weren't damaged nearly as much as they could have been. It's definitely a sturdy structure that we purchased last spring.

As for me, I'm ready to meet little bean. A part of me is still wondering if #3 will come out a little girl or if we will have a surprise on our hands at arrival time. I'm just not completely convinced I'm getting a little Sawyer but I will be completely happy either way, just hoping for a safe delivery and healthy mommy and baby at this point.

Hope this finds you all well, happy and healthy!

Updates

Wow! Again, I have gotten very, very behind on keeping up with my blog but I'm sure none of you are surprised. Here's a little rundown on what's been happening with us lately.





Sawyer Dawn: "Sawyer!?! Who's that?" Is that a question you are asking yourself? Sawyer is our baby GIRL due March 13th. Well, our tech wouldn't confirm that it is a girl but we sure didn't see any boy bits. Here are a few ultrasound photos of our beautiful blessing.





Lainee: Well, what can I say? She is as FEISTY as ever. Our little princess has gotten a little attitude that's for sure and I'm really not quite sure where she gets it. I do like to call her a mini-Nicole because some of her behavior reminds me a lot of my youngest sister. Despite her orneriness, she can also be the sweetest little thing, my little cuddle bug. She has really gotten into wrestling around with her big brother and we have started to realize how TOUGH she really is. She can throw down with the best of them, at least fellow 1 year olds, I'm sure. She's starting to say more words, she's really good at "N-N-N-n-n-OOO" and "thank you" which sounds a little like "tank yew" Her little voice is SO adorable. What a little cutie we've got on our hands. I'm pretty sure poor Chad is already dreading teenage years. haha





KJ: My little man! It's amazing to watch this little guy, to have conversations with him and to hear how his mind works. He has SUCH an imagination. He will say things that completely blow me away, crack me up or make me say "Whaaaaa---?" I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's such a smart kid. Sadly, I've fallen off the bandwagon with trying to do pre-school with him so I hope to get a curriculum set and really dig in after the new year. He really enjoys learning and he loves to write, color and do crafts. He's also a good little singer AND lip syncher. He really gets into music. He's also our little bum at times, I think he could lay on the couch watching The Disney Channel all day long if we let him. He's a wonderful big brother to his little sister and they really have a lot of fun together. I'm such a lucky mommy to have the babies that I do. :)





Daddy: Chad had quite an experience when he went to JAPAN at the beginning of November for work. It has been his first time out of the country (other than Canada) and he got to explore a little bit of Kobe and Tokyo. It was hard, him being away, but I know it was good for him. He also got to experience more of the "business" side of his job as he is usually working away in the lab while at work. Despite his big trip, he has been busy being a WONDERFUL father. KJ & Lainee absolutely adore their daddy. He will get home after a day at work and still find the time and energy to wrestle around with them on the floor, give them horsey rides around the house and spend his downtime cuddling them on the couch. He is such a great, great man and we are lucky to have him!



Mommy: What have I been up to besides growing a 3rd little cutie? Well, at the end of October, I, with the help of many wonderful people, ran a "Cookes For Kids' Cancer" Bakesale in which we were able to raise over $800. I really enjoyed working for such a GREAT cause and I highly encourage anyone interested to check it out and give it a shot! Glad also matched what we raise which was really wonderful.

http://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org/default.asp

I also have been busy with my photography business. I've got to work with some really wonderful people and I've really been enjoying it. I'm currently taking time off for the holidays but plan on starting back up after the new year (at least for a couple months until Sawyer arrives).

http://jessicagreenfieldphotography.com/

Mostly, I've been busy being a mommy. Although, like I said, I have not been as dedicated with learning activities and plan on changing that soon. I enjoy playing around with the kiddos, being silly and just being a mom to the two most wonderful kids I know. I couldn't be more blessed. God has given me so, so much to be thankful for!

Happy Fall!

Once again it has been a long time since I've posted. Since my last post, KJ has turned 3 YEARS OLD! I can't even believe it. It seems like I just had the little guy. We had two really great birthday parties for him, Phineas & Ferb themed, of course. It's fun to watch how excited they get as they get older and know more of what's going on. We had fun with family and friends and it was great to spend time with everyone. Here are a few pictures from his parties in Shelton and here at home.







KJ is such a smart little boy. I need to get on the ball and start doing more pre-school activities with him, he loves to learn and I really need to take advantage of that! He's such a wonderful son and he sure loves his little sister who loves him right back! Love that little guy!

Little Miss Lainee is growing, growing! She is our feisty kid, for sure. She has started throwing fits, fits where she throws herself down on the ground and just cries and cries or she will get angry and want to hit whatever is in sight. Luckily, they seem to be getting better and I hope it's something she grows out of REALLY soon. She, like her brother, is also very smart. She's started to understand everything we tell her or ask her do and she likes to "talk" more and more. She still doesn't say many words but just the fact that she is becoming more vocal is pretty exciting. I'm sure she will be a chatterbox soon enough. Despite her orneriness, she can be the sweetest little thing at times and we just love her to pieces! We are so blessed to have two adorable, healthy, awesome children with another on the way!

As for #3, this pregnancy has been going really well. We should be able to find out what the little squirt is in the next few weeks. We are getting a lot of boy guesses, so we will see who is right when the time comes. Feel free to make a guess on our guessing game:

http://expectnet.com/games/babygreenfield3

Chad has been keeping really busy at work and is only about to get busier. He is going to be working a night shift for a little while as they have a big order they are working on and then once they are done with that, he will be heading off to Japan for about a week on business. It's going to be strange not having him here for that long. We've only spent one night apart since we were married, it will be an adjustment, but at least it's only for a week.

I've been working on my photography business. I have a few shoots coming up and I've been trying to get some holiday cards done in hopes I might get some orders of those. I'm enjoying it. It doesn't keep me too busy, but I don't want it to be a full-time job. I'm a mom first, and that is what I want to be the busiest with! :)

Well, I think that has kind of caught me up for now. Happy Fall!!